humble pie
Admitting you're wrong
Humble pie is figurative food you eat when forced to admit error or accept humiliation: After his prediction failed spectacularly, he had to eat humble pie.
The phrase comes from "umble pie," a dish made from deer organs fed to servants while nobles ate the prime cuts—though the pun on "humble" shaped its modern meaning of public embarrassment or forced apology.
Admitting embarrassing error
- mea culpaAcknowledgment of personal blame
- admissionEntry or confession
- retractionFormal withdrawal of statement
- acknowledgmentConfirmation of receipt
amends · sorry · apologize · regret · atonement · confession · forgiveness · excuse
Self-conscious unease
- mortificationIntense shame or embarrassment
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- disgraceLoss of honor
- loss of faceDamaged personal honor
comeuppance · egg on face · chagrin · indignity · degradation · abasement · dishonor · ignominy
Guilt for wrongdoing
- penitenceRemorse for misdeeds
- repentanceRemorseful rejection of past wrongs
- guiltMoral self-reproach
- compunctionUneasiness from guilt
self-reproach · sorrow · penance · contriteness · rueful · regretful · sorry · penitent
Absence of vanity
- self-effacementDownplaying one's importance
- meeknessGentle, unassertive disposition
- unpretentiousnessAbsence of showiness
- lowlinessState of modest rank
swallowing pride · lesson learned · reality check · grounded · chastened · sobered
eating crow
Admitting embarrassing error
- mea culpaAcknowledgment of personal blame
- admissionEntry or confession
- retractionFormal withdrawal of statement
acknowledgment · amends · sorry · apologize · regret · atonement · confession · forgiveness · excuse · sincerity
embarrassment
Self-conscious unease
- mortificationIntense shame or embarrassment
- shamePainful awareness of failure
- disgraceLoss of honor
loss of face · comeuppance · egg on face · chagrin · indignity · degradation · abasement · dishonor · ignominy · red-faced
remorse
Guilt for wrongdoing
- penitenceRemorse for misdeeds
- repentanceRemorseful rejection of past wrongs
- guiltMoral self-reproach
compunction · self-reproach · sorrow · penance · contriteness · rueful · regretful · sorry · penitent · ashamed
modesty
Absence of vanity
- self-effacementDownplaying one's importance
- meeknessGentle, unassertive disposition
- unpretentiousnessAbsence of showiness
lowliness · swallowing pride · lesson learned · reality check · grounded · chastened · sobered
loss
Being without something
downfall · collapse · capitulate · debacle · overthrow · vanquished · setback · failure · comedown · brought low
- humilitymeekness, modesty, modest, lowliness, meek
- life lessonslesson learned, moral, lessons learned, life lessons, parable
- ego termsbig ego, bruised ego, ego boost, ego trip, fragile ego
- embarrassmentembarrassed, blush, humiliated, mortify, mortified
- reconciliationreconciliation, reconcile, reconciled, reconciling, making up
- correctionscorrection, corrections, fix, fixing, rectification
humble piebragging rights
Informal claim to superiority
victory lap · crowing · gloating · boasting · laurels
humble piepride
Satisfaction from one's achievements
elation · exultation · jubilation · self-satisfaction · schadenfreude
humble pievindication
Clearance of blame
victory lap · last laugh · I told you so · sweet revenge · redemption
humble, humiliate, humiliation, humbled, humbling, humbles, humbleness, humblest, humbler